Governance

Guiding Principles and Mission

In 2016 Fraunhofer formulated new Guiding Principles as the product of a participatory development process. These Guiding Principles, consisting of our Mission, Vision and Principles, are primarily intended to have an internal effect, providing equal measures of orientation and motivation and serving as the basis for successfully applied and innovative research.

Leadership Principles

The Fraunhofer Leadership Principles reflect our understanding of the roles, assignments and areas of responsibility of our managers. The Leadership Principles are intended for our managers, who are expected to continuously develop their leadership behavior in close collaboration with their employees. At the same time, the Principles are also intended for our employees, who are expected to reflect on their own behavior in collaboration with management and to actively determine their actions.

Sustainability

Science plays a key role in the transition to more sustainable development of society. Fraunhofer wants its research to contribute to sustainable development in the sense of an ecologically intact, economically successful and socially balanced world. We report at regular intervals on our organization's progress in the area of sustainability management in our Sustainability Report.

Compliance

To us, responsible corporate management naturally includes compliance with general legal regulations and stipulations on government funding, in addition to an orientation towards values. We maintain a Compliance Management System to systematically ensure compliance with all applicable rules.

Principles of Cooperation and Internal Code of Conduct

Fraunhofer has published an internal Code of Conduct to provide our employees with basic orientation for their actions. The Code of Conduct addresses a wide range of topics and describes essential areas of responsibility, for example corruption prevention, interaction with customers, ethical responsibility in science and conservation of resources in the workplace. With our cooperation partners in mind, we have published the "Principles of Cooperation" as a set of explanations for third parties, serving to proactively and transparently represent our position on essential topics.